State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers v. Eberenz

701 N.E.2d 892, 1998 Ind. App. LEXIS 1989, 1998 WL 796627
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 17, 1998
Docket10A04-9805-CV-237
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 701 N.E.2d 892 (State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers v. Eberenz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers v. Eberenz, 701 N.E.2d 892, 1998 Ind. App. LEXIS 1989, 1998 WL 796627 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

MATTINGLY, Judge.

The State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers (the Board) and the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (the Agency) appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of David R. Eberenz. The issues presented for review are restated as follows:

I. Whether the trial court erred by finding that the Board’s action was not in accordance with law.
II. Whether the trial court erred by rendering summary judgment.
III. Whether the trial court erred by ordering the Board to enter, in its official records, Eberenz’s registration as an Indiana professional engineer.

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The relevant facts in this case are not in dispute. Eberenz has been registered as a professional engineer in Kentucky since early 1995. In late August or early September of 1996, Eberenz filed with the Agency his application for comity registration as an Indiana professional engineer. On October 7, 1996, the Board denied Eberenz’s application, noting Eberenz’s “Lljack of 6 hours calculus which must include 3 hrs [sic] of advanced calculus and 3 hours calculus-based *894 physics.” R. at 46. Eberenz sought administrative review of the Board’s decision to deny his application. On March 25, 1997, an administrative law judge (A.L.J.) issued an order denying Eberenz’s application. 1 Eber-enz then sought review of the A.L.J.’s decision before the full Board. On May 30,1997, the full Board issued its final order in which it affirmed and adopted the A.L.J.’s order.

Eberenz petitioned the trial court for judicial review of the full Board’s final order. He subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment. In his brief supporting that motion, Eberenz requested that the trial court reverse the Board’s final order and also decree that he be registered, pursuant to the principle of comity, as an Indiana professional engineer. On February 12, 1998, the trial court granted Eberenz summary judgment in an order which was supported by enumerated findings and which held, among other things, that the Board’s decision was not in accordance with law and was not supported by the evidence. The trial court then remanded the cause to the Board and the Agency (hereinafter referred to collectively as “the Board”) “with instructions to take the appropriate action regarding [Eberenz’s] comity application consistent with the findings of this order[.]” R. at 172.

After filing a praecipe for appeal, the Board, pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 62, motioned the trial court for a stay of its summary judgment order pending appeal. On May 12, 1998, the trial court denied the Board’s motion for a stay and ordered the Board “to enter in [its] official records the registration by comity of [Eberenz] as an Indiana professional engineer, within ten (10) days after entry of this order.” R. at 201. On June 24, 1998, the Board issued Eberenz an Indiana professional engineer license.

On June 25, 1998, the Board filed, in this court, a motion for a stay pending appeal. The motion specifically requested a stay of (1) the trial court’s summary judgment order of February 12, 1998 and (2) the trial court’s May 12, 1998 order denying the Board’s motion for a stay pending appeal. After hearing oral argument, we denied the motion for a stay on July 21,1998.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

A court reviewing an administrative decision is limited to determining whether the agency had subject-matter jurisdiction and whether the agency’s decision was made upon substantial evidence, was not arbitrary or capricious, and was not in violation of any constitutional, statutory, or legal principles. Shoot v. State, Family & Soc. Servs. Admin., 691 N.E.2d 1290, 1292 (Ind.Ct.App.1998). On judicial review, we are bound by the agency’s findings of fact if those findings are supported by substantial evidence. Airco Indus. Gases v. Indiana Mich. Power Co., 614 N.E.2d 951, 953 (Ind.Ct.App.1993). However, we owe an agency’s conclusions of law no deference, see Twin States Publ’g Co. v. Indiana Unemployment Ins. Bd., 678 N.E.2d 110, 112 (Ind.Ct.App.1997), trans. denied, as any agency determination that is not in accordance with the law may be set aside. Airco, 614 N.E.2d at 953. When the facts are undisputed and the question is whether those facts lead to a particular conclusion, a question of law is presented and we need not defer to agency decision-making. See Twin States, 678 N.E.2d at 112.

*895 DISCUSSION AND DECISION

I. Propriety of the Board’s Action

A. Whether the Board may require that the education requirements set forth in Indiana Administrative Code title 864, rule 1.1-2-2, be satisfied by one who applies, pursuant to the principle of comity, for registration as an Indiana professional engineer

1. The Meaning of “Comity”

Indiana Code Section 26-31-1-21 states that:

The board may, upon application and payment of a fee established by the board in the board’s rules, issue a certificate of registration as a professional engineer to an individual who holds a valid certificate of registration as a professional engineer, issued to the applicant by the proper authority of any state or territory or possession of the United States if the requirements for registration of professional engineers that the certificate of registration was issued under do not conflict with the provisions of this chapter.

This statute sets forth what the parties describe as “comity” registration. We begin our analysis by determining precisely what meaning should attach to comity within the context of Indiana Code Section 25-31-1-21.

This court has held that the doctrine of comity “represents a willingness to grant a privilege, not as a matter of right, but out of deference and good will. Its primary value is to promote uniformity of decision by discouraging repeated litigation of the same question.” County of Ventura, State of California v. Neice, 434 N.E.2d 907, 910 (Ind.Ct.App.1982) (quoting State of Florida ex rel. O’Malley v. Department of Ins., 155 Ind.App. 168, 176-77, 291 N.E.2d 907, 912 (1973)). Comity has been accurately described as “a principle applied voluntarily by one state or nation in its conduct toward another state or nation; and it is applied by such state not only in the acts of its judiciary, but also in the acts of its legislative and its administrative agencies.” In re Fischer’s Will, 119 N.J. Eq. 217, 181 A.

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